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Published: January 17th 2015
Today we woke up in a small place called Cambria which is about halfway between San Fran and LA on highway 1. Our motel was on the beach so was nice waking up and hearing the ocean and being able to have a look. After we were up and ready we headed to Hearst Castle. Hearst was a super rich American dude who build a 150+ room castle on top of a hill where he used to camp with his family. One day he decided 'he was too old to ride a horse up there so his goi to build a small ranch' as it was his dairy farm. He hired one of the only 2 female architects of the time, this was at the end of the 1910s decade. This resulted in the castle having 20 more bathrooms than bedrooms. The man came from wealth and since he was young collected European artworks and artefacts. These artworks decorate all the walls and many of the artefacts make up the house, with some ceilings being 400 years old as he had bought them and had them in storage. He seemed like a generous man as he never plundered his artwork from anyone, and in one case after the Germans wrongfully sold him a families artworks he returned it. In another story he had a silver royal staff which he bought from a town in northern United Kingdom with the agreement he would return it if they needed it, I think they were in financial trouble when the town sold it. He kept true to his work and returned it. Ipathetic castle was a place to be with all the major movie Stars and politicians of that era visting. After he died it was left to his children in his will, they didn't want it as they each choose ohe of the other 7 properties around the world he owned. Hearst had a wish that it be an Arts University or an Art Gallary. It was offered to a uni he had ties with in Brooklyn but they inky wanted the art works which was not part of the agreement, so they didn't take it, then it was offered to the state of California who took it in a trial and then bought it for $1 from the family. The building itself was amazing with si much detail involved. The architect had great for sight and made the house earthquake and Fire resistant which help in the early 2000 as there was a major earthquake which did no structural damage to the house.
We then hit the road and headed for LA. The second half of the trip did not compare with the first half. It was nice highway driving without any amazing scenery. That said it was still nice unail we meet the LA traffic trying to get to the basketball. The normal flow of traffic started to slow about 100 miles (160km) from the stadium in downtown LA. There were a few brief patches where it got going again but was never for too long. The last 20miles (approx 30km) took almost an hour. It was lucky we were running early and had the help of the GPS. If we didn't we would have missed the game.
The basketball was the best if the 3 games we went to. It was 2 great teams with superstars players. The cavs have Lebron James who many regard as the beat player in the world and is just freakishly good. This was a dream for Ryan to see him play. There was also an Aussie playing for the cavs but we were still cheering for the home team, the Clippers. The game was great with all the star players putting on a show. It was close until the end and in the last quarter James flicked his switch and played his best basketball. He made some of the hardest things to do look easy. In the end the Cavs won and the Aussie played a significant role which was awesome as he is a lesser name in a team full of stars.
The game included some basketball history, the Clippers had a just signed a new player, who was the coaches son. It was the first time in NBA history that a son had played for his father. Also Chris Paul passed an assist milestone, being the second fasted ever in history to reach that figure. Lebron also become the youngest person to reach sone scoring, rebounding and assist benchmarks in the game. Overall it was amazing to be there.
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Lyn
non-member comment
Nearly Home Time
Hi Ry and Teez, Your well planned holiday is coming to an end. Ry and Teez you have been to some amazing places, seen some great things, and will leave with many many memories. Look forward to seeing you both when you get home and making sure you have some of those beautiful photo's printed. Hope you saved all your tickets etc for scrapbooking......lol xxxx